Okay so I've been thinking about doing some drum covers and putting them on youtube. But I want the drums to sound nice so I want to get mics for them. Then of course the mics hook up to a snake. But can you plug the snake into the video camera somehow so you get just the sound from the drums? Or would it work out better to use the camera just for the picture and record the audio on the computer and match them up afterwards? Any other methods?

Hi Rufio! I'm not sure what you mean by the mics 'hook up to a snake', but then again, I'm not particularly tech savvy, and am pretty new to this stuff myself!

For my personal Youtube videos, I am using a set of Audix DP7 microphones and a Focusrite Saffire Pro mixer, running via firewire through my PC. I then mix each of the individual channels (snare, 2 rack toms, floor tom, kick and two overheads) using Cubase SX3.

The video i shoot from two different angles using my partners digital camera and video camera! I then create a mixdown *.wav file from cubase, and add it along with the two videos into Sony Vegas, which i use to create the video. I export this video (works out to be around 100meg) and then upload it to my youtube profile!

Here's an example.

The guys on this forum are great, and I have learned nearly everything i know from them. I don't doubt they'll be able to provide you with some great feedback as well!

next to nothing. most newer computers have them, especially if they're higher end ones made for working with media or gaming. If not, you can easily find a PCI firewire card at your local computer supply store. Just make sure to thoroughly check your computer for a pre-existing one before you go shopping.

I agree completely with Sudz- if you don't have a firewire port on your PC or laptop, you can pick up a PCI firewire card for your PC or PCMCIA card for your laptop. It shouldn't cost anything more than about $20AU (probably halve that price for the US). Your mixer and or microphones can be the expensive part. I spent about $1200US on my mic and mixer combo, complete with cables. I'm not sure of the going rate for Cubase these days, but I picked up a copy for about $120AU from a local Music store (i'm told you can get it cheaper if you shop around).

Ok here's my next issue. I'm probably gonna want to use my old laptop to get the audio from the drums because my drums aren't at home. I keep my drums at a friends house because I live in an apartment. Therefore I'd rather use the laptop and bring it back and forth. But, it being an old laptop, it does not have a firewire input, nor the space to put one into it. Is there such thing as like an external firewire box or something?